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D E P A R T M E N T O F A G R I C U L T U R E , F I S H E R I E S A N D F O R E S T R Y

Plantation forests

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Plantation forests are stands of trees created by the regular placement of seedlings or seeds. Plantation forests can be either native or exotic tree species, and of any age.

Plantations currently supply more than half the logs for Australia’s timber requirements, and provide a range of economic benefits, such as employment in regional and rural areas.

They also benefit the environment and are used, for example, for salinity and erosion control, and as windbreaks.

Sometimes, they are planted solely to provide environmental benefits, but for the purposes of this profile, ‘plantation forest’ refers only to those planted for economic benefit.

Plantation forestry in Australia dates back to the 1870s. The major factors that prompted the first plantations were the need for timber to support settlement of regions that had little useful local timber, and the mining industry, which used substantial amounts of timber and left large areas of cleared land in need of reforestation.

A range of exotic and native species were trialled until those that best suited the climate and available sites were identified. Radiata pine was first planted for forestry in 1876 at Bundaleer, South Australia, and Macedon, Victoria in 1880. By 1900, it was evident that it was the best softwood species for plantation forestry in South Australia. There are now more than 1 million hectares of softwood species which supply the majority of timber used in Australia. Eucalypts were also tried, and there are still some small areas of eucalypt plantation dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was not until the 1980s that the planting of large areas of eucalypts began.

In December 2004, Australia had more than 1.7 million hectares of timber plantations, which was approximately one per cent of the country’s total forested area.

The area of plantations in Australia increased by 60% from 1995 to 2004, primarily due to private investment supported by government policy initiatives. These included Plantations for Australia: The 2020 Vision (1997) which aimed to treble the existing plantation area by 2020. New plantations in Australia have been established at an average rate of 75 000 hectares per year for the five years from 2000 to 2004.

Plantation of native blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus)

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Radiata pine (Pinus radiata), Kuitpo Forest, South Australia

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Source: National Forest Inventory (2003)Note: The distribution represented on this map has been enhanced for clarity

Figure 1: Plantation forest distribution

Table 1: Total area of plantation forest in 2004 by State and Territory (hectares)

Plantations ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA Australia

Hardwood 65 54 060 8 437 34 427 39 438 151 272 168 461 259 371 715 531

Softwood 5 363 287 302 3 817 180 158 124 313 74 420 214 874 110 395 1 000 642

Total 5 428 341 362 12 254 214 585 163 751 225 692 383 335 369 766 1 716 172

Source: National Plantation Inventory Annual Update 2005

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Plantation forests can either be ‘softwood’ or ‘hardwood’ species groups. ‘Softwoods’ in Australia generally (but not always) produce softer, lighter coloured wood and are mainly exotic pine species. ‘Hardwoods’ generally produce harder, denser wood and, in Australia, are mainly eucalypt species. These two species groups are covered separately in more detail later in this profile.

Where are Australia’s plantation forests?

Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales each have about 20% of the nation’s total area of plantations. Queensland and Tasmania account for about 13% each, and South Australia has 10% (Table 1 and Figure 1). All South Australian commercial forests are plantation forests.

Plantation ownership

Australia’s plantation resources are split almost evenly across public and private land tenures, with 53% (905 000 hectares) on private land and 47% (811 000 hectares) on public land. However, there has been an increasing trend in recent years to establish new plantings on private land.

Sawn pine timber

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Farm forestry

Farmers are increasingly using plantations for both commercial returns and land management and environmental purposes. The National Plantation Inventory makes a distinction between ‘industrial’ plantations (those greater than 1000 hectares) and ‘farm forestry’ plantations (less than 1000 hectares). An estimated 20% of current plantations have some degree of ownership by the farm forestry sector.

Softwood plantations

About one million hectares (or 58%) of plantations at December 2004 were softwoods.

Exotic softwood tree species are valued for plantation forestry, because the timber is easily processed and they are productive on a wide range of sites. The choice of species generally reflects climatic and site conditions.

The main softwood species planted in temperate regions are the exotic radiata pine (Pinus radiata), Caribbean pine (P. caribaea) and slash pine (P. elliottii). Western Australia has a significant maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) plantation resource.

Hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) is the only native conifer planted for wood production in Australia, and has been planted predominantly in Queensland.

Although softwoods make up the majority of the total plantation resource, their proportion has declined from more than 80% in 1995 to 58% in 2004, due to the large area of hardwood plantations established.

Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) plantation, South Australia

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Export woodchip mill, Burnie, northeast Tasmania

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Farm forestry is a small but significant proportion of the national plantation area

Table 2: Tenure of plantation forest by State and Territory (hectares)

Tenure ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA Australia

Public land

Hardwood 65 35 296 0 4 012 1 316 37 959 12 547 5 871 97 066

Softwood 5 363 215 289 0 178 628 82 848 54 042 116 793 60 684 713 647

Total (47%) 810 713

Private land

Hardwood 0 18 764 8 437 30 415 38 122 113 313 155 915 253 500 618 465

Softwood 0 72 013 3 817 1 530 41 465 20 377 98 081 49 711 286 994

Total (53%) 905 459

Source: National Plantation Inventory Annual Update 2005

A poster showing all main forest types is available from the NFI.

See back page for contact details.

Australian native softwood plantations

Plantations of hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) were first established in Queensland in 1916. They are best developed on deep loams that originally carried rainforest, because hoop pine is a native rainforest species. Between 1940 and 1999, an average area of 3560 hectares of hoop pine was planted every five years in southeast Queensland. The total resource in 2000 was 46 588 hectares, of which 94% was in southeast Queensland and about 3 per cent was in each of northern New South Wales and north Queensland. Hoop pine timber is excellent for plywood, furniture, joinery and flooring, as well as many other purposes, including ice-cream sticks.

Hardwood plantations

In 2004 Australia had about 715 000 hectares of hardwood plantations. Of that area more than 95% was Eucalyptus and the remainder included tropical rainforest, Acacia and Corymbia species.

Only a few eucalypt species are used widely in Australian plantations. The main species are Tasmanian or southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), shining gum (E. nitens), blackbutt (E. pilularis), flooded or rose gum (E. grandis), mountain ash (E. regnans), gympie messmate (E. cloeziana), spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora subsp variegata) and Dunn’s white gum (E. dunnii). In 2000, Tasmanian or southern blue gum made up almost two-thirds of the plantations.

Values and uses

Wood

Softwood plantation forests produce sawlogs in a relatively short time (25–35 years), and can be managed to produce products of relatively consistent size and quality. Softwood timber is relatively easy to dry and highly permeable to wood preservatives. Softwood plantations also produce wood that is suitable for newsprint and cardboard. About 70% of softwood plantation timber is used domestically; however, 39% of timber consumed locally is imported because of a shortage of domestic supply.

Most eucalypts in commercial plantations are suitable for a wide range of products depending on their management, although some species have properties that limit their value. For example, some of the older, darker timbers are less suitable for paper production because it is expensive to make them white and the pulp quality may be damaged in the process.

Hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), Queensland

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Wooden house frames

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Oil mallee plantations in Western Australia

In 1994, a significant eucalyptus oil enterprise was established in the low rainfall areas of Western Australia. The industry uses various Eucalyptus mallee species, targeted for different soil types and climates. Mallee trees have multiple stems arising from a central underground root stock. They are well adapted to dry conditions, and new shoots grow back after the leaves are harvested for oil.

The total area of plantations in 2000 was almost 6000 hectares. Eucalyptus oil is used in pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and perfumes. Currently, Australia produces 200 tonnes of oil for specialty markets (for example, fragrances). World production is about 3000 tonnes per year, mainly from China, Portugal and India.

The oil mallee plantations provide a variety of other benefits, such as salinity control, carbon sinks to offset carbon dioxide emissions, decreased waterlogging and erosion, increased yields of surrounding agricultural crops, activated carbon (charcoal) to absorb chemicals, ions and odours (for example, in water treatment, gold recovery, the food and beverage industry) and fuel to produce electricity.

Mallees planted on a site prone to waterlogging in Kalannie

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Most hardwood plantations have been established in the past 10 years and are managed for pulpwood production. The production period for pulpwood is 10–15 years, but there is increasing interest in growing hardwoods for longer periods to produce sawlogs and other high-value products.

The rotation length for eucalypt plantations varies from 10–40 years or more, depending on the kind of product being grown. For example, a plantation can produce firewood and woodchips on a rotation of 10–20 years. However, it takes 20–30 years to grow trees suitable for sawn and structural timbers. Depending on the species grown, it may take 40 years or more to produce top-quality logs with a large diameter for high-value solid timber products.

Environmental

There are fewer forest-dwelling native animals in plantations than in native forests. However, plantations provide habitat for some flora and fauna species that can be absent on cleared agricultural land.

Native animals found frequently in surveys of softwood plantations include echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), kangaroos (Macropus spp.), wombats (Vombatus ursinus), possums, birds such as the yellow-tailed black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus), as well as other bird and insect fauna.

If properly sited in the landscape, plantations provide a number of environmental benefits, including wind shelters, increased water quality and reduced erosion, and the potential to reduce the effects of salinity.

Common or southeastern wombat (Vombatus ursinus)

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D E P A R T M E N T O F A G R I C U L T U R E , F I S H E R I E S A N D F O R E S T R Y

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Printed June 2005 on recycled paper

Acknowledgements

Australia’s forest types profiles have been compiled by the National Forest Inventory, a cooperative project between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments, and managed by the Bureau of Rural Sciences. Information in this profile is taken from Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2003, available by calling 1800 020 157 or online from http://www.brs.gov.au/stateoftheforests.

Contact details

National Forest Inventory Phone: (02) 6271 6627 Bureau of Rural Sciences Email: nfi.info@brs.gov.au GPO Box 858 Website: http://www.brs.gov.au/nfi Canberra ACT 2601

Other titles in this series

Acacia forests Callitris forests Casuarina forests Eucalypt forests Mangrove forests Melaleuca forests Rainforests Australia’s forests

Also available

Forests of Australia poster Copies available from: 1800 020 157

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Mountain bike racing, ACT forests

Other uses

Both native and plantation forests are used for recreational activities, such as walking, cycling and camping.

In addition to wood products, plantations are also being established to supplement native sources for non-wood products, such as Eucalyptus and sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) oil from Western Australia, and tea-tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), and northern cypress pine (Callitris intratropica) oils from New South Wales.

Other plantation products that are produced in small quantities include resins, bush food, fodder, cut flowers and foliage, and medicines.

An expanding plantation industry also has the potential to supply biomass for electricity and ethanol production.